The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Thursday stepped up pressure on the NDA government for the release of Rs 10,333-crore food subsidy pending with the Centre, ahead of the presidential elections.

The Naveen Patnaik’s party also demanded that Rs 5,454.67 crore additional interest incurred by Odisha because of the delay in the release of subsidy by the Centre till March 31, 2022, should also be released immediately.

The BJD is yet to open its card on the presidential polls.

The food subsidy bill has been pending with the Centre for the past two years.

“Despite the state demanding that the Centre release the money immediately to bail out the state paddy procuring agency from financial stress, no action has been taken in this regard by the Centre,” BJD’s national spokesperson Sasmit Patra said.

“The Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation, the designated agency for the procurement of paddy for the state government, is to yet receive Rs 7,931.90 crore as provisional subsidy and advance subsidy of Rs 2,402.19 crore taking the total subsidy claim to Rs 10,334 crore by the end of April 2022,” Patra said.

However, Patra denied it has any connection with the presidential elections.

The party also rejected the Centre’s increase of the minimum support price (MSP) of common grade variety of per quintal paddy from Rs 1,940 in 2021-22 to Rs 2,040 per quintal for 2022-23 for common variety.

Addressing a news meet here on Thursday, Patra said: “The Odisha legislative Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution in 2017

recommending that the MSP of common paddy be increased to Rs 2,930 per quintal.

But even after five years of the passage of this resolution and numerous demands in this regard placed by the BJD MPs in Parliament as well as in Odisha Vidhan Sabha, the Centre has not implemented it. Odisha farmers should get their due,” he said.

The party has also raised the issue of non-lifting of surplus par-boiled rice from Odisha. “The Centre’s decision to stop lifting surplus par-boiled rice will adversely affect lakhs of farmers of Odisha,” he said.

In 2021-22 kharif marketing season (KMS), out of 52 lakh tonne of procurement of rice, the state’s consumption will be about 39 lakh tonne under the public distribution system (PDS) and other welfare schemes.

“The state is likely to have a surplus of 13 lakh tonne of rice which should be lifted immediately for smooth procurement operation. But the Centre is silent on this matter,” the BJD said.

BJP’s state general secretary Golak Mohapatra said: “The state has no concern for farmers. They are doing politics on the issue. The Naveen Patnaik government in 2016 announced that it would give Rs 100 bonus on the MSP. While other state governments like Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are giving them money, why has the Odisha government not done it so far?”